ASK THE EXPERT - MAY 2017

You were very lucky 35 years ago when you bought in a flea market these two Ibeji, paying them, I suspect, very little. There are no doubts about the place of origin and the carver of the Ibeji on the left side of the photo. It comes from the village of EDE - Oyo tribes - and it is catalogued in the file 661 of the Catalogue of Ibeji and in the photos 373 of the Encyclopedia of Ibeji. In these books this Ibeji is classified with the degree of rarity "scarce." But the most interesting thing is the possibility of attributing its creation to the carver Abogunde of Ede. And this leads to the doubling of the commercial value. In light of the above, I think it would be worthwhile to make my Gold Expertise, which will also lead to the publication in the site www.ibejiarchive.com. The second Ibeji, in the right side of the picture, originated also from the town of Ede, but his quality level is clearly lower and I do not believe it can be considered as part of a pair with the other one. While it has a nice patina, cannot certainly be attributed to the carver Abogunde. But you may also be glad, because from this photo this Ibeji appears to be genuine as well.